Past Projects

In October 2010, a bulldozer operator working near a Colorado ski area uncovered the tusk of a young female mammoth. Over the next 10 months, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science conducted its largest-ever fossil excavation, yielding a treasure trove of well-preserved Ice Age fossils. Museum crews uncovered 5,000 bones of 41 kinds of Ice Age animals, including mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, camels, deer, horses, and giant bison. The preserved series of Ice Age fossil ecosystems is one of the most significant fossil discoveries ever made in Colorado. This discovery at Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village will change forever our understanding of alpine life in the Ice Age.

Since the passing of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Denver Museum of Nature & Science has invested time and energy into ensuring that Native American cultural objects and human remains return to the tribes in which they belong. But what happens after they go back?

Creating Collaborative Catalogs: Using Digital Technologies to Expand Museums was a three-year project to develop an innovative open-source, online collaborative catalog system so museums can gather indigenous perspectives while maintaining the museum's existing data.